Early Postoperative Complications and Ambulation in Patients Treated for Hip Fractures, the Unexpected Positive Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison Study.
Isr Med Assoc J
; 24(5): 293-298, 2022 May.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1857393
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The influence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused countries worldwide to implement lockdowns. Elective surgeries were temporarily suspended, with surgeries being performed only for emergent/urgent medical conditions such as hip fractures where early surgical intervention has shown decreased rates of morbidity/mortality.OBJECTIVES:
To assess the indirect influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown on hip fracture patients, considering factors such as time to surgery, early postoperative complications, and ambulation status.METHODS:
A comparative retrospective study was conducted on consecutive patients presenting to our emergency department (ED) with hip fractures that were treated surgically (N=29) during a 1-month period during the government lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The treatments were compared to consecutive patients who presented with hip fractures and were treated surgically (N=44) during the same timeframe in the previous year (control). Comparisons were made using t-test, ANOVA test, Fisher's exact test, and chi-square test.RESULTS:
The COVID-19 group was operated on sooner (20.34 vs. 34.87 hours), had fewer early postoperative complications (10.3% vs. 31.8%), had better ambulatory status at discharge, and experienced a shorter hospital stay (5.93 vs. 8.13 days) with more patients being discharged home (72.4% vs. 22.7%).CONCLUSIONS:
Patients presenting with hip fractures to our ED during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown indirectly benefited from this situation by undergoing earlier surgical treatment, thus experiencing fewer early postoperative complications, faster ambulation, and sooner discharge.
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Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
/
Hip Fractures
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Isr Med Assoc J
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Israel
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